1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to frozen, aerated frosting compositions and to the method of producing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to frosting compositions which are stable in the freezer over extended storage times and which soften and become ready-to-spread after about two hours at room temperature. The frosting composition of this invention possesses a quality at least equal to frostings made from scratch by a homemaker or baker and superior to canned ready-to-spread frostings.
Canned ready-to-spread frostings are known in the art but, as these products are stored at roomtemperature, they do not typically contain ingredients such as butter and various other ingredients which are unstable at these storage conditions. These canned frostings will typically contain chemical preservatives and antioxidants.
Frostings are well-known in the food art. Among the several types of frostings are creme icings, fluffy frostings, and aerated creamy frostings. Creme icings typically include sugar, shortenings, emulsifiers and water. Such icings exhibit a creamy mouthfeel due, in part, to the high levels of shortening employed. The organoleptic properties of the icings, an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,830 to Walba, also importantly depend on physical properties such as a density typically exceeding 1.1 g/cc, which is indicatavie of low aeration. Fluffy frostings such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,663 to Bruner et al. are highly aerated edible toppings typically having densities of less than about 0.4 g/cc. Fluffy frosting compositions are generally fat-free, depend on the whippability of proteins or certain polyglycerol esters of higher fatty acids, and normally include sugar, water and foam stabilizers. Aerated creamy frostings are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,302 to Daggy et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,265 to Seiden; however, such products have not been made commercially available as ready-to-spread frostings, presumably, as noted in the description of the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,045 to Blake, due to their instability over time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,652 to Kahn et al. discloses (Example 1) a highly-aerated, cream frosting which remains soft at freezer conditions; however, The disclosed product which has a density of about 0.3 to 0.4 g/cc is percieved as a whipped topping rather than a frosting and if the Kahn et al. is whipped to a lesser extent, the resulting material does not have sufficient body to stay on the sides of a cake.